Fresh Motivation: Berto v Quintana Preview
Fighters fight better when it’s for more than just belts and greenbacks.
Throughout history, the very best of them have used all manner of alternative motivators to give them an edge, to keep them hungry throughout the agonising misery of training camp and more importantly, to keep them winning. Whether it’s be religion, national pride, self respect, or even railing against ‘The Man’, harnessing a cause can elevate a fighter from being merely good into really great.
Andre Berto, most definitely a good fighter, will have more incentive than ever when he clambers into the ring on Saturday night to try and make the jump. The man from Haiti will feel as though he has an entire nation in his corner as he hikes up those ring steps.
Berto is a perfect 25-0 (19) and has held an alphabet title in boxing’s deepest division since summer ’08. Despite this, he’s looked a work in progress, one good enough to edge quality men like Luis Collazo and Juan Urango, albeit without overly worrying the elite of the division in the process.
His opponent, the enigmatic Carlos Quintana has been in with a pair of cream welterweights, with mixed results. In 2006 he fell to Miguel Cotto in five rounds whilst in ‘08, he split a pair of bouts with the superb Paul Williams.
The first fight with Williams saw ‘El Indio’ pitch an almost perfect innings. A carefully orchestrated game plan was followed expertly, one which allowed him to offset the huge physical advantages the Georgia man held over him.
At his best, Quintana is a tenacious southpaw, one possessing good foot speed and who is handy on the counter. He’ll look to respond to Berto’s attacks early with hard flurries of punches, looking to impose his will and drag the younger man into a dogfight. Such will be Andre’s willingness to impress, he may just oblige Quintana and provide us with an exciting and action packed encounter.
Berto is a squat fighter with short levers who tends to land speedy, chopping shots inside after jabbing his way close. His best shot is the right uppercut, a tough shot to land which if he misses can leave him wide open to the Quintana left hook. If Carlos does begin to get home with hard counters, don’t imagine he can’t hurt Berto, possibly floor or even stop him. The punches he managed to land against Williams the first time around would have stopped a lot of welterweights dead in their tracks-and he landed plenty.
A few months ago, I’d have pegged this as a narrow Berto points win, however, with what has transpired since, I’m expecting something extra from the Haitian. I can see him breaking the Puerto Rican down with a powerful display, matching fire with fire and stopping him sometime in the fight’s third quarter to finally announce himself as a potential star in this already constellation laden division.
The show, billed as “Fighting for Haiti”will donate 10% of ticket sales (20% of VIP seats) to the relief effort in Berto’s homeland and takes place in Florida, which boasts a large Haitian population. HBO televise in the US whilst Sky will deliver the fight to UK homes, which is good to see.
Berto will start around a 1/5 favourite with Quintana out somewhere near 7/2. For those who fancy the upset, those are very good odds.
Chief support comes from Panama’s Celestino Caballero, who plunders featherweight against unbeaten Indonesian Daud Yordan, in search of huge fights with Bob Arum’s dynamic duo, Yuriorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Marquez.
(Photo credit: Howard Schatz)
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